


Smaller Souls

by MaybeStarlight



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Angst, Faunus!Cole, Found Family, Gen, Multi, Ninjago AU, Other, RWBY au, Secrets, Serpentine are just Faunus, as a treat, child soldiers by technicality, combat school, feral Lloyd, listen if you know anything about RWBY you know how this is gonna go, sassy Pixal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:15:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28813290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaybeStarlight/pseuds/MaybeStarlight
Summary: "Do you honestly think your children can win a war?""I hope they never have to."The RWBY au no one asked for but I provided anyways.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	1. Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> I have *so* many notes on this to answer questions about how this universe works. So many.  
> RWBY and Ninjago are my two longest interests, and I've always wanted to combine them somehow. Still working out all the bugs in the universe, but hopefully I'll be able to do both justice.  
> I'd like to say that while this will pull heavily from RWBY canon and lore, I will be doing it in a way that you don't have to understand RWBY to understand the plot of this.

"Do you know who I am?" The man sitting across from Lloyd asked. Lloyd knew, and nodded, drawing his hoodie around himself tighter. His fingers were burning from the cold air they had only recently come in from. "…What about the person you were running with earlier?" He shook his head this time.

The door to the room opened and a dark haired man in green entered, a bowl in one hand as he closed the door behind himself.

The man smiled at his assistant who set a bowl of soup in front of Lloyd. "Thank you. Quite a cold night out there, I hope you heated some up for yourself as well."

The assistant—the dark haired huntsman who had brought Lloyd in—grunted, standing back and leaning against the wall. "I'll grab some later."

Lloyd felt his stomach rumble, and he winced. It hadn't been in the plans for today to have a chance to eat, and he reached for the spoon, noticing how his fingers looked like they were a healthy color again. He scooped up a heap of vegetables. "You're headmaster Wu, of Ninjago Academy. One of the top huntsmen schools in the world."

With that said, Lloyd shoved the spoon in his mouth, and it took everything inside him to not melt right there. This wasn't some homeless shelter, halfway house soup. This was something made to nourish. Probably something they served in the cafeteria for dinner, to make sure the students kept their strength in check. The soup scalded his tongue but he swallowed it quickly. "…That guy didn't say his name. He said he could get me somewhere I'd never be hungry again, or cold…" Lloyd kept his eyes on the soup, glad for once he was used to being numb like this. It came with the last word that he was promised to never feel again.

Unwanted.

Lloyd felt his head ache as he held it in. "It's cold out tonight. I wanted somewhere to stay."

Headmaster Wu nodded, eyes never leaving the face of the young man sitting across from him. "And…how old are you?"

Lloyd cut him a glare before he answered. "I'm fifteen. I don't need a home so if you're just going to call Ninjago social services, don't bother. I'll be gone before they get here."

With a second of silence, Lloyd crossed his arms, defensive. Wu watched the walls going up around the child and chuckled, shaking his head. "That's not why I was asking." He knew how old the child was. How could he not know. "What do you plan to do with your life? You seem to possess a great quantity of skill for just a simple street child." He pulled out his scroll, showing the recording of the child facing two serpents at once. It had been fairly impressive, considering the boy's use of a stolen weapon not meant for him to wield.

The boy seemed caught off guard, blinking twice. "I…I want to become a huntsman. I want to save people."

Wu smiled kindly. "And what are you doing to reach that goal?"

* * *

Ronin tossed a ball in the air, trying to not focus on the way the airship swayed under his feet. They were so close to the school if he just focused on this he could probably make it without getting air sick.

He glanced around at the strangers on the ship around him—his peers, he guessed—and frowned. So many seemed relaxed about all of this, as if this airship wasn't heading to the arguably the top huntsman academy in the world. As if they weren't all about to have to prove themselves over and over for the next three years of their lives until they graduated—until they got their huntsman license.

His stomach twisted again and he checked the route board again. Five minutes. He could make it a little longer. He just needed a distraction. He looked at the ball in his hand, squeezing it once and watching it puff right back up as if nothing had happened. He focused on it, squeezing it again. This time, it didn't puff up, staying crunched up in his hand as he used his semblance.

"That's pretty neat," Said a cool feminine voice behind him. Ronin turned. The girl, dressed in practical, tactical gear with bright accents of teal and maroon had her hands on her hips, before reaching out. She plucked what was once a stress ball carefully from his hand. "How does it work? Your semblance." She looked at him with bright eyes. He couldn't deny it, she was pretty. She turned it over in her hands-work roughed hands, Ronin noted to his surprise.

She traced one of the indentions, and he reached out to touch it again, the gold slipping back into his fingertips. He took the ball back as it inflated back to its original shape. "I call it king's touch, I can touch an object and turn it into gold. Not super useful in combat but...it's not useless, you know?"

The girl nodded with a small smile. "Gold is one of the most malleable metals, and it's a lot more fragile than something like steel." She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest, reaching up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Bet you could easily break a weapon by touching it during combat. Especially any kind of gun or hammer based weapon. It's such a soft metal."

Ronin couldn't help but grin. This girl knew her stuff. She'd known him for minutes and already knew one of his strategies. "I think it's only fair to ask about yours now, sweetheart-"

The stress ball bounced and rolled across the airship floor.

She moved faster than he expected, slamming him against the wall with a loud clang as metal hit metal. She had his hands pinned above his head. He pulled against her strong grip. Her brown eyes flashed with anger. "Don't call me sweetheart." She held him a moment longer before she let go, pushing his arms down hard. His elbow banged against the wall on the way down. She walked away, walking towards a spiky brunet who was showing his swords off to a pack of students.

Ronin walked to pick up his stress ball before turning the other way.

Lesson one: call her sweetheart every chance he could. That could be arranged.

* * *

Cole hated flying. He always had, but this ride to the Ninjago Academy solidified that hate. He had felt nauseated for the last twenty minutes after they hit a small patch of turbulence. He held his scythe close, using the shaft to keep himself steady as he stood near the middle of the airship, away from most of his soon-to-be classmates and teammates.

"Bet you didn't like this flight either mom..." He mumbled under his breath, glancing at the flight tracker on the wall. They were so close. If he could just, not throw up in the last ten minutes of the flight, he'd be fine. He reached for the pack of gum in his bag, frowning when it wasn't in the front pocket. He could have sworn it was in there when the flight started. Rooting around inside the pocket, he kept mumbling to himself to keep himself from thinking about the way his stomach was twisting.

"Lose something?" Cole looked up from his bag, seeing a girl with scarlet red hair standing in front of him, hand on her own bag.

Cole didn't trust himself to speak in more than single word answers, and nodded sadly. "Gum." He looked back at his bag, rooting in the second pocket now, in case he had just packed it wrong.

He heard her opening her own bag, and a wrapped stick of minty freshness was suddenly thrust in front of his face. "Here. You look like you need it more than me." Cole nodded again, and took the gum, popping it into his mouth. He tried to focus only on the mint. Just the crisp flavor of the gum. Not the rocking of his stomach or the airship under his feet.

The girl zipped up her bag, pulling her red hair up into a ponytail. "My name's Skylor."

She didn't need to tell Cole her last name. He felt tense. How did he not recognize her with her hair down? Everyone knew about Skylor Chen, heiress to the Chen Dust Dynasty. Cole felt the nausea rise with a vengeance. How could the heiress to a company built on the unpaid labor of the Faunus offer a complete stranger a stick of gum?

Especially considering Cole was one of the Faunus her family enslaved for so many years.

Cole turned away from her, picking his sycthe up to walk away. He wanted to spit this gum back in her face, to make some sort of grand statement about oppression, about not taking handouts from the scum of the earth. And yet...

And yet the voice in the back of his mind said not to draw attention to himself. He was undercover, no one here had to know he was a Faunus, or that he was raised by a prominent Faunus dance troupe his father founded. Here, at Ninjago academy, he could be Cole. Someone normal. Someone who just wanted to become a huntsman.

He wanted to be invisible for once in his life, he reminded himself as he walked away, towards a more crowded part of the descending airship.

He would do whatever it took to do that.


	2. Destiny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally I think Ninjago Academy looks like Haven Academy in RWBY with some more modern elements since it's in the city versus the more traditional kingdom of Ignacia. I can't draw but this place definitely doesn't look like Beacon Academy at all.

Off the airship, Kai took a moment to throw his arm around his sister's shoulders, pulling her close before she could run off. He whipped out his scroll, pulling up the camera. "C'mon Nya, smile! We made it!" He half-yelled as his sister rolled her eyes. He snapped photo after photo until she was smiling and she shoved him away.

He couldn't help it. This was the start of something new for them. For the first time in a long time, they were following _their_ destiny, their paths in life. Not just struggling to get by in a world that pretended not to see them.

Nya fiddled with the strap on her bag, and then pretended to check on her spear, _Basilisk's Branch_ , acting like she wasn't just as excited as Kai to currently be at the top huntsman academy in the kingdom of Ninjago.

Well, second only to the military machine that was the Birchwood Academy. Maybe.

Kai shouldered his bag, and took Nya's from her as well. "Come on, let's go check in so we can then check this place out. He eyed the ashen face of a dark haired boy built like a golem. The boy seemed relieved to put as much distance between himself and the ship they had all just exited. Kai laughed a little, nudging his twin. "Look at him, surprised he didn't hurl it on the ship."

Nya gasped, elbowing him hard. "Be nice! He could wind up being your partner you know!"

Kai shrugged and laughed. "Then I'll find out how well he can handle flying."

The two walked down the path towards the main entrance of the school, taking in the moment. Today, in less than an hour they would officially be students at Ninjago Academy. They would be on their way to become huntsmen, just like their parents had been. Like their weapons, they forged their own destiny. This was what they had worked for as they crossed all of the kingdom of Ignacia to travel here for combat school.

Kai couldn't keep a smile from creeping on his face as they got closer to the towering monastery of the school.

* * *

Lloyd was following the headmaster's advice to keep his head down as others arrived to the school and focus only on finishing the first functional draft of his own weapon, two katanas. It had been the most comfortable fit for his fighting style. He was working currently on figuring out how he was going to incorporate a secondary component. He didn't have physical size or strength on his side really, he was fast, and light on his feet.

Came with being a street kid, he reasoned to himself.

Lloyd set the swords down, and paced the forge room, wiping his hands on his shirt. It was a warm room. "Okay Lloyd, think...you're using a close range weapon, but need to make sure you're able to get away in a flash if your opponent is larger than you...which most of them will be." He chewed on his lip for a moment, stepping outside into the hallway for some fresh air. "If you _don't_ add a secondary weapon to the design like a gun getting away just means they're going to have to chase you, which means it'll be fine against those without much endurance, but most Grimm have a pretty high stamina reservoir."

"What about adding dust?" A voice suggested from behind. Lloyd whirled. Behind him was a curly haired teen with a broad grin. He sized Lloyd up, smile not breaking for a second. "Someone like you could probably get pretty skilled with gravity dust or maybe lightning rounds-my personal favorite." The teen stuck out a hand for Lloyd to shake, the other steadying the heavy looking pack on his back. "Name's Jay, Jay Walker. I like to think of myself as everyone's weapons consultant!"

"Lloyd." He shook Jay's hand to be nice. No need to start anything on his first day to get himself kicked out. Even though the other was loud, and too cheerful, and way too friendly which made Lloyd think this kid just had everything _perfect_ in life up to this point and that certainly did not under any circumstance cause a flare of something angry and twisted in his heart. No, that just had to be the hunger, that was all.

Even though he had eaten breakfast not too long ago...

Lloyd sighed. "I've thought about adding dust but I'm just not sure how or what kind." He walked back into the dimmer forge room. "Go easy on me too, this is my first original weapon work."

Jay flitted over to the table with speed Lloyd hadn't expected, his hands moving over the blades before he began picking them up to examine. Lloyd stood back, on edge as he sized up the other student. Sure, the guy wasn't much taller but he still had a few inches on Lloyd, and definitely at least fifteen pounds of muscle more than him from training in a preparatory combat school. Not only that, he seemed like he was built for speed, if he ditched the back pack that is. Lithe like Lloyd, except unlike Lloyd he probably had stamina training.

Only thing Lloyd _might_ have an advantage at would be using his aura longer. He hoped he could at least have that over this curly haired nuisance.

"...You didn't hear anything I just said, did you?" The words cut through his thoughts, jarring him. He met the green eyes across the table from him. "I think we should give you some kind of way to do range attacks. I know it's pretty crude but, have you considered a gun at all? Either for the sheath or maybe in the hilt?" He lit up. "I can show you what my nun-guns look like! Technically it's a three-in-one, it is also a compact staff. When I need to push someone back." The boy dropped his heavy looking pack on the floor and unclipped a pair of nunchucks. Lloyd could easily see how they turned into guns. The boy held them out to him. "You can hold them. It's not like you can hurt them in a way I can't fix them."

Lloyd took them, looking over them. He could see that they were well loved and worn. He could see where the kid put ammo in, and nodded, handing them back. "Pretty cool."

"Haha, yeah. It took me ages to figure out what I wanted to do with them. I knew I was good with nunchucks but I just wasn't sure how practical they'd be, y'know?" Jay looked back at Lloyd's sword, then checked his watch. "Let's pack up for the opening ceremony, and then we can come back and brainstorm together, how does that sound to you? It's gonna bother me all day until we decide on this."

"Why?"

"Oh! Because I just really like knowing what other peoples weapons can do. They're an extension of us, you know?" Jay clipped the nunchucks back onto his bag, and began to help gather the tools Lloyd had been using to add grip to the hilt. "...plus I like having a project to work on. I figure if being a huntsman doesn't work out, I can at least go into weaponry design professionally."

Lloyd nodded, packing the swords up. He figured the kid would eventually make a group of friends and forget about his promise to Lloyd. The kid was loud, but he was certainly charismatic. He'd almost broken down one of Lloyd's walls. Lloyd sighed silently. He couldn't afford to let people so close so soon.

All of them eventually left him behind anyways.

* * *

Lloyd stood towards the back of the hall they were gathered in. He could see a stage set up for the opening remarks.

He didn't flinch when he felt someone move towards him, behind him. He tensed, ready to run. There was a hand on his shoulder suddenly. Lloyd couldn't help it.

He flinched.

The man behind him chuckled, and Lloyd turned to look up at Morro. He was the headmaster's assistant, and had been a pain in Lloyd's back for the past week and a half since he had been taken in by the school. Morro was a merciless tutor. He had been pushing Lloyd past his breaking point daily. "Excited for initiation tomorrow, pipsqueak?"

Lloyd rolled his eyes. Morro was also painfully fond of nicknames. He crossed his arms. "I'm excited to finish my weapons after this. I'm close to being done with them." He had been the one to figure out what kind of weapon Lloyd needed to design for himself. After Lloyd failed spectacularly time and time again with basic lessons in various weapons, Morro had fallen back on the footage of Lloyd with a stolen sword against a Grimm serpent. "Don't you have jobs to do?"

Morro chuckled, ruffling Lloyd's hair. "Caught me there. I'll be keeping an eye on you, kid, but don't expect me to show any favoritism to you."

"Have you been doing that before now? Because I'm pretty sure there was no favoritism when you were testing my skills." Lloyd grinned. He knew he could push Morro's buttons without consequence, so long as he didn't take it too far. Just enough to be the kid brother he never had or wanted.

Morro grinned at Lloyd, before nodding towards the stage. "He'll be speaking in a few minutes. How about you move closer to hear. Take what he says to heart. It's important stuff, you know?" With a gentle push, Lloyd walked forward, turning to look back at Morro, but frowning.

Where Morro stood, he was now gone.

Lloyd stood behind two students towards the front. The first messing with his scroll, the other fidgeting with the strap of their bag. He stayed quiet, looking down towards his scuffed up sneakers, trying to resist the urge to pull up his hood. Everyone around him was decked out in their combat gear. Their special gloves, knee pads, armor, whatever accompanied them into combat, they had.

Lloyd was there in a plain black hoodie, jeans, and his old sneakers. He knew that the order that Morro had placed for him wouldn't come in for another week. He would just have to wait until they got uniforms tomorrow to feel a little less self-

Someone bumped into him, which pushed him into the bag of the girl in front of him. Lloyd was quick to jerk backwards. "Sorry!" A girl said, Lloyd turned to look at her. She had long red hair pulled into a ponytail, and wore an orange combat skirt over black leggings. Much of her outfit seemed to repeat the two colors, though there were a few accents of gold here and there, most notably in the choker around her throat. Lloyd had seen her picture in enough ads to know who this was. As it turned out, so did the student he bumped into.

"You're Skylor Chen." The dark haired girl breathed, eyes wide. She elbowed the student beside her. "Kai, it's _Skylor Chen_ , she's-" The girl looked at Skylor, looking right past Lloyd. "I thought you were going to go to Ignacian Academy, considering how close it is to your home!"

Skylor Chen gave a small wave, and a light laugh. "It's a long story. I'll tell you later, it seems like things are about to start."

Lloyd looked towards the stage and nodded, stepping backwards out of the way. He could feel the eyes looking through him right at Skylor. Fame and wealth and a controversial family made many students around them curious. On the stage however at the microphone was Headmaster Wu.

Headmaster Wu looked solemn as he cleared his throat. "Good afternoon. Typically, I would welcome you to my academy with a smile, with joy, with...hope. But when I look at you, I see wasted energy in need of purpose."

The room was stiff, tense. Lloyd frowned. What did the man mean?

"You believe that this school, this education will give you that purpose. It will not."

The guy in front of Lloyd glanced back, frowning. The girl beside him seemed nervous. Lloyd looked away, then back at headmaster Wu.

"This education is merely a formality, a frame work to guide you. Finding purpose, however, is the most individualistic practice in existence. You will have to be the one to take that first step. To find your own purpose in this world. While you are here, you will be pushed to your breaking point in order to grow. This education is not easy." In the distance, a bell began chiming. "It is not for everyone, yet each of you came with the hope in your heart that it is for you. I hope, for your sake, that you are right."

He took a sip of tea, and Lloyd shivered as he felt the headmaster make eye contact with him. His strange dark eyes felt like they could see right into the core of Lloyd. He hated it.

The headmaster walked away, and Morro walked towards the microphone, an annoyed expression on his face. "Thank you, headmaster Wu for those...inspiring words. Now, for the rest of the day, please feel free to explore the campus, make friends, theorize about what tomorrow's initiation will bring. Tomorrow you will each be put to the test to determine your teams for your time here. I wish you each the best of luck. You are truly fortunate to be here. For now, you're dismissed."

The words rang in Lloyd's head as he walked out after they were dismissed. He needed to finish his weapons before everyone else got down there and saw he had just basic swords. He hoped that Jay kid would meet him down there. He figured he could use all the help he could get now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, if you liked it, or if you have any theories as to what you think will happen next, please comment about them. I'd love to hear who you think will be partnered with who, what the teams will be, all that. I haven't introduced everyone yet.

**Author's Note:**

> You can (and I cannot encourage this enough) review and/or ask me questions about the AU at my tumblr blog maybestarlight (I always have anon on, in case you're shy) I'd really love to talk more about it and give away little hints and previews if people are interested.


End file.
